Tesla has been selected as the primary supplier for what is described as the largest battery-electric heavy truck order in the United States.
The initial order covers 2500 Class 8 trucks and is expected to nearly double the country’s existing electric heavy vehicle fleet.
It is being organised through the Zero-Emission Truck Shipper-Carrier Alliance Leading Electrification programme, known as ZET SCALE.
The programme is jointly operated by global freight decarbonisation organisation Smart Freight Centre and Catalyst Mobility, formerly CALSTART.
Founding shippers include Microsoft and PepsiCo which have contributed through various freight commitments.
ZET SCALE combined freight demand from several major shippers before running an independently managed request for proposals involving electric truck manufacturers.
Tesla was selected as the primary manufacturer after proposals were assessed on price, range, charging capability and production capacity.
Kenworth, RIDE and Volvo have been named secondary suppliers, giving participating carriers additional vehicle options for different operations.
The manufacturers have agreed to honour the pricing submitted through the tender process.
Catalyst Mobility president and chief executive Michael Berube says aggregating demand allowed manufacturers to price vehicles at greater scale.
“You can have good technology and still not have a market,” Berube says.
“What is different about ZET SCALE is that the demand was organised so manufacturers could price at scale. That is how costs move, and that is how clean trucks leave the pilot phase.”
Leasing structure targets financial risk
ZET Financial will issue the purchase order for the initial 2500 vehicles and deploy them through a fair-market-value leasing programme.
Its ZET Lease structure is designed to remove residual-value risk from participating fleet operators, addressing one of the financial barriers to adopting battery-electric trucks.
The company will also assess the operating costs and duty cycles of individual fleets and provide advice on charging infrastructure.
ZET Financial chief executive and founder Peter Flynn says electric truck economics must be considered across the vehicle’s complete operating life.
“When analysing the true cost of operating an electric truck, you cannot simply look at individual components on their own,” Flynn says.
“Our thorough cost assessment accounts for every major cost driver that affects the truck—including financing, electricity versus diesel fuel, and maintenance.”
Deployments concentrated around freight hubs
The first trucks will be concentrated in high-volume freight hubs where operators are expected to achieve strong vehicle and charging infrastructure utilisation.
Initial deployment areas include Los Angeles, Stockton and Bakersfield in California, along with Seattle and Tacoma in Washington.
Texas locations include Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, with further deployments planned around Chicago, Atlanta and the Northern New Jersey, Newark and New York City freight region.
ZET SCALE says concentrating vehicles within selected hubs should improve charging infrastructure utilisation and reduce total ownership costs.
Tesla Semi programme director Dan Priestley says the coordinated order could amplify the operating benefits of electric trucks.
“The Tesla Semi is designed for lower cost per mile operations than diesel.
“ZET SCALE’s goals are exciting because they take the operational cost advantage and predictability that electricity provides and amplifies it at scale,” Priestley says.
“We are proud to have been the primary selection in this RFP and look forward to giving shippers and carriers a new competitive edge.”
Microsoft sustainability director for cloud supply chain global operations Nico De Golia says the programme translates freight emissions targets into vehicle demand.
“Our participation in ZET SCALE does that for road freight, by signalling real demand for electric trucks so the low-carbon option becomes competitive for moving our cloud infrastructure,” De Golia says.
Alliance targets 10,000 trucks
ZET SCALE ultimately aims to deploy at least 10,000 battery-electric Class 8 trucks.
The alliance is seeking additional shippers and carriers to participate in future procurement rounds and expand deployments into other regions.
Smart Freight Centre chief executive Christoph Wolff says the programme distributes the risks associated with adopting electric trucks across the freight supply chain.
“ZET SCALE aligns shippers, carriers, manufacturers and financiers around a single, real demand signal,” Wolff says.
“When the risk is shared across the whole chain instead of resting on any one player, the industry can finally move at scale.”
